


The Reason

by Oxygen_Thief



Category: Street Fighter
Genre: Blow Jobs, Friends to Lovers, M/M, More characters will be talked about later, NSFW, Rivals to Lovers, Slow burn? More like a hot bath because this will be short and probably not good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 03:15:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22269130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oxygen_Thief/pseuds/Oxygen_Thief
Summary: On occasion, Ryu will spend a summer at his childhood home where he and Ken grew up. Alex decides to challenge him to a rematch, and the two end up spending a little more time together than initially expected.
Relationships: Alex/Ryu
Comments: 18
Kudos: 15





	1. Potential

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for a long time, but have never been able to finish it in any form. I wanted to finish and release it as a long one-shot, but I think since this will only be around 3 to 4 chapters anyway, I figure I can keep the motivation to actually finish this if I post something. This will be a write-as-I-go story, but I do have the ending envisioned in my head already.  
> Anyway this WILL be 18+ later on, so if you're not 18 or older then scram.  
> Please tell me how to improve my writing in the comments! Thank you.

Typically, Alex’s face wasn’t so close to the asphalt.

The sun was a little too bright and ants were crawling very close to his fingers. The strikes Ryu made were really starting to settle in with the foreshadowing promise of bruises, but Alex brushed that knowledge aside as he craned his neck around to look up at his opponent.

Ryu was a simple-looking man, with his black hair and white gi and quiet demeanor; nonetheless he stuck out in New York, even in the red-bricked alleyway they fought in.

Alex lifted his large wrist to wipe blood from his swollen lip. He blinked against the noon sun that made it hard to take in Ryu’s outline, but still looked on in awe of the man’s ability. “Rumors don’t do ya justice,” he said, his voice strained from one of Ryu’s punches to his stomach. Alex grinned through the pain. “And I thought I’d seen everything at this point.”

“That was a challenging fight,” Ryu said, crossing his arms. Alex saw there wasn’t a bead of sweat broken over the man’s brow in their three-minute scuffle. The older martial artist walked over and lent a friendly hand to help Alex off the ground, which he took. Several weeks ago before Alex left on his journey, he might not have out of poor sportsmanship . There was an odd moment of silence where no one spoke once Alex was on his feet again, but Ryu still gave him an encouraging smile.

“Uh, thanks,” Alex said, trying to sound appreciative. “For the fight, I mean, and saying it was challenging . . . even though ya don’t look roughed up much.”

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t have to think,” Ryu reasoned. “Besides, I’ve heard of you too. Beating Gill means you’re strong, and skilled. I’m glad we crossed paths.”

Alex blinked, his face getting a little hot at Ryu’s humble attitude. Usually when Alex met fighters with popularity behind their name they always talked big or talked shit, but the man in front of him was a different story. They met six minutes ago and yet Ryu was acting like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Hell, Alex had even heard Ryu’s name uttered as far back as high school: _Ryu, the man who beat Sagat_ .

“You-you’ve heard of me?” Alex asked, his voice louder than intended. He still succeeded in not expressing how shocked he really was.

Ryu nodded, picking up his worn duffel bag from where it sat against the brick wall. Giving Alex another assuring look, he said, “You’ve got a lot of potential, Alex. I hope we meet again.”

Alex understood as soon as the words left Ryu’s mouth. One common fact from every person talking about Ryu was that the man never stayed in one spot for long. Despite what Alex knew, a form disappointment blossomed in his chest that almost hurt more than his injuries from the fight.

Watching him walk down the quiet alley to the loud, busy street of New York, Alex decided to say one last thing.

“Hey Ryu.” He felt a little more confident when they made eye contact again. Ryu didn’t need intimidation to motivate someone. “I’ll find ya myself, for round two. We’ll meet again.”

One last weathered smile was given to him, feeling like a bright future. Suddenly he felt like he had a good reason to leave New York again as he saw Ryu disappear within the hustle and bustle of Alex’s home city.


	2. Replay

Alex couldn’t tell which humidity on the planet was worse: New York’s or Japan’s. His entire body was coated in a thin veil of sweat just after he left the airport in Kochi, where the seething summer heat was mixed with a salty smell in the air due to the nearby ocean. Clusters of people constantly on the move didn’t help the warmth of the city or Alex’s jetlagged brain, so he hoped finding a payphone and giving Tom a call would make him feel better.

Barely able to hear the phone ring with all the noise, Alex suddenly heard a deep voice after a few seconds.

“Hello?” Tom answered in a tired tone. “Alex? That you?”

“Yeah Tom, it’s me,” Alex said with a finger held in his free ear. “How’re you and Patricia doin’?”

There was a heavy sigh on Tom’s side that gripped Alex more than the cacophony of voices surrounding him. He heard a weird sound and pictured Tom scratching his head like he did when he was frustrated. _So much for touching base_ , Alex thought.

“Well, I’ll be blunt,” Tom said, “she’s pissed.”

“Yeah, but--”

“--and I don’t blame her,” Tom continued through Alex’s interruption, his voice louder than before. Suddenly the guilt seeped into Alex’s skin, remembering how he left a shitty note in Tom’s mailbox before leaving without notice. “Alex, I get what you’re doin’. I’m happy you’re tryin’ to get out there and become your own man, but Patty is _real_ upset.”

Struggling to build the right timeline in his head, Alex took the plunge and let all the words fall out of his mouth. “I know--I’m sorry, it’s just . . . the guy I wrote about . . . Ken Masters told me where he lives and--”

Alex heard muffled yelling on the other line, no doubt Patricia taking the phone from her father. He thought he heard, “Dad? Dad, Alex? Gimme!” The crowd was growing ever more frustrating as it continued to hamper his hearing, but he knew he wasn’t in for something good.

“Alex? Is that you?” a high-pitched voice asked. 

“Uh, hey--” he blubbered.

“Why did you leave again?” Alex heard an untangling sadness in Patricia’s voice, going from sternly angry, to crying in just a few words. “It’s so unfair and you’re a fat jerk for not saying anything and Dad is still getting better and we couldn’t go camping--”

“I’m sorry Patty, please calm down,” Alex said as kindly as he could manage. Talking to Patricia was different than talking to other people for him. “I’ll be home again soon; there’s just something I have to do, okay?”

“Whatever!” Patricia cried back. Alex thought he heard Tom try to convince Patricia in giving him the phone, but she continued. “Go get the crap beat out of you, I don’t care!” With that there was a loud clack that must have been Patricia dropping the phone, since her voice was no longer there and Alex pictured her running off to her room. 

Another sigh from Tom when he got the phone back. “I gotta go talk to her, but we both love you. Win for me, will ya?”

“You bet I will,” Alex said, managing a smile at Tom’s encouragement. “And I love the both of you, too. Let Patty know I’ll make it up to her.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ancient steps were cracked, with dry grass high enough to tickle Alex’s knees as he hiked up the steep hill towards Ryu’s dojo. Every step made Alex think his boots had turned into lead since he was still carrying the weight of a sleepless fifteen-hour flight, as well as a two-hour bus ride to the mountain trail from the city. If Alex hadn’t known Ryu was a martial artist when they met, he could’ve been easily convinced the man gained his musculature living at the top of the steps alone.

There were birds singing and cicadas chittering that Alex didn’t hear with his walkman playing over the chorus of nature. He and the leaves and the dirt didn’t mix; mosquitoes loved him (he hated them), he sweat really bad in intense heat, and somehow bugs always ended up in his shoes. Yet, there was no reason for him to complain; he didn’t want Ryu to think he was struggling.

Eventually, when Alex had lost track of time and the endless expanse of trees became a blurred mess of green and brown, he saw the roof of a house in the distance. Taking one last big breath and putting his walkman away, Alex smiled to himself and quickly closed the gap.

At the top Ryu was sitting in a clearing, meditating. His posture was still and Alex thought the man looked peaceful, like the annoying bugs buzzing all around them was adding to his tranquil mind. Ryu opened his eyes and noticed Alex once he was in view at the last few horrible steps, and smiled like he had the last time they met. He didn’t seem upset being stirred from his meditation.

“Hello again,” Ryu said, getting to his feet. “How are you doing, Alex?”

“How else?” Alex chided, bending on both knees to stretch and ignoring the sudden ache in his back. “Ready for round two, Ryu?”

The older man put his hands on his hips. His grin told him that Ryu knew something he didn’t, and the casual disposition made him think Ken had been wrong and Ryu didn’t really want him there. Had someone come before him and overstayed their welcome?

Ryu approached Alex and craned his neck slightly to look up at him. The stubble on his face had grown since they last saw each other. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a bit tired.”

Shit. 

“Woah, hey now,” Alex defended as jokingly as possible, nearly falling back down the steps after shuffling his feet, “you can’t just kick my ass and then bow out the second time! I met Ken Masters and he said--”

Ryu respectfully put up a hand, and to Alex’s own surprise he stopped talking. “I inferred that,” Ryu said, “but I know I’m not wrong in saying you’re not at full strength. I know the trip from New York to here is long, so you’re welcome to spend the night for a spar in the morning.”

Alex was caught off guard, again. He couldn’t get one by the guy, whether it was a good punch to the face or a regular conversation. 

He retorted slowly, feeling awkward at Ryu’s friendliness. “I . . . are you sure?”

Ryu nodded. Alex noticed how his smile lines were more prominent in the afternoon sun, like a drawing. “Growing up my master had a lot of people challenge him, and he’d offer a room and a meal if they would take it. I do the same.”

Alex’s tired brain used whatever ability it had left to get some wheels turning, and concluded that he had to make the trip worth it any way he could, for himself and Tom and Patricia. It all came back to why he had come in the first place, and the two were of the same ilk, so he conceded to the hospitality. Ryu had been around long enough to know how badly Alex needed what he needed; from one fighter to another, he cared.

“Okay,” he said softly, letting his shoulders fall into a tired slouch. He thought he felt his eyes get heavier as well. “Show me the way.”

Waving a hand, Ryu guided him to the dojo which was a small, sturdy estate.The dark wood creaked under the stomp of Alex’s boots and he had to bend his head getting through the front door. Natural sunlight flooded the mostly barren living room, not to mention filled with the natural temperature; how anyone was able to live without AC in highly humid countries, Alex didn’t know. A few days with a broken air conditioner had nearly killed him one summer.

He was taken down a narrow hall to a bedroom that was completely empty save for a futon near the opposite wall.

“Here you are,” Ryu said. “Once you wake up, come find me and we’ll have at it. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Heh, no one more than me.” Once again having to dip his head under the door frame, Alex wandered in and dumped his duffel bag near the center of the room. He sat down on the futon, pressing his fingers against the fabric and testing the comfort. “Thanks for letting me stay, but I’ve got a question.”

Ryu tipped his head to one side. “Hm?”

“What if I was an asshole, or a thief?” Alex asked with his elbows laying on his knees.

Ryu suddenly laughed, the boom of it adding a bravado to his voice that wasn’t there before. “Well, we’d have a problem. But I think I’d be alright; not you, though.”

Alex chuckled a bit as he began untying the laces of his boots and Ryu slid the door shut. Warm sun from the window covered his back like a soft blanket and an unexpected sense of appreciation washed over him. He supposed he didn’t really know what he was expecting.

Placing his boots beside the futon, he laid his head down to sleep. His mind wasn’t replaying the initial fight like it had every night for the past two weeks, though it probably should have since Alex was finally at his destination with a fight in the morning. Instead he was thinking about getting Ryu to laugh, and how nice it was to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy to finally post this lol. This is the second draft of this chapter and I figured I need peoples' feedback instead of rewriting everything without anyone reading it to tell me how it is. I've written out an actual plan for this story by now so it'll be at least 6 chapters, 7 at the most; I just want a good build-up for these two.
> 
> I always thought it was hilarious how Alex ditched his family's camping trip shortly after his adopted father's recovery from an awful injury, all so he could go off and quench his thirst for Ryu. So I called him out on it here lmao. Dude's impulsive.
> 
> If anyone wants to critique my writing, feel free! Hope you enjoyed this.


	3. Breathless

The warm yellow light Alex had fallen asleep to was a cold grey when he woke up. The humidity had died down and there was a crisp chill that felt nice on his skin. He wasn’t as annoyed by the endless birdsong outside as he was yesterday, though the cicadas could still go fuck themselves.

Alex didn’t waste any time; he rolled over and started doing push-ups. He would follow up with stretching, then sit-ups, then crunches and some squats to finish it off. While nothing woke Alex up better than a good work-out, it was a shame he didn’t have the personal weights he kept in his room back home (maybe it would have been a good challenge to carry them in his bag on the trip).

The light slowly transitioned to yellow as Alex went through the routine, but his crunches were interrupted halfway through by Ryu knocking on the door.

“Come in,” Alex called.

Ryu’s expression was well-rested, but there was a shift in his eyes once he saw Alex exercising. A towel was draped over his arm and he held it out almost awkwardly.

“Uh,” he started, “good morning.”

“Mornin’,” Alex replied casually. 

Ryu leaned on one foot for a moment, cautiously. “I know we’re fighting later, but you’re welcome to use the bath.”

It was then, and only then, that Alex realized how bad he probably smelled. He was so tired the previous day that he didn’t even  _ think _ about bathing--embarrassment washed over him like a heat wave. 

Ryu didn’t seem to pick up on it, and Alex let it stay that way. “Oh, it’s alright!” he joked, grinning widely, “I know I smell like ass. It’s an issue.”

He stood and accepted the towel from Ryu, who was already clean with a different gi on than yesterday. The pattern of worn patches and torn hems around the cut sleeves were different. Somehow Alex had noticed it. 

“That hike up here is strenuous, so I don’t blame you,” Ryu said politely. “I’ll be waiting in the kitchen--” 

“You’re making breakfast too?” Alex asked, just as he was about to open the door to the restroom, towel and duffel bag over his shoulder. “Damn, and you’re this nice to everybody?” 

Ryu shrugged humbly. “I try. Like I said, you’re a good fighter, and you’ve got potential.” As he moved to walk down the hall, only to brush against Alex’s arm in the cramped space, he said, “It’s no skin off my back.”

The way Ryu said it made Alex’s blossoming anxiety for the day squirm in his stomach. He didn’t know if it was better or worse, but he smiled nonetheless and entered the bathroom to get clean.

As he got ready, Alex thought about what he could do. He wasn’t going to let down Tom, or Patricia, or Ryu, and definitely not himself. Excitement and worry was fighting for dominance in his chest when he tried focusing on his options for the fight, like if he could really counter anything Ryu threw at him or if he could at least last longer than he had before. A scary thought entered his mind on what he might do if he lost again, but he put up a granite wall to any sort of negativity. Tom always told him to do that; failure was bound to happen if it was visualized.

Tying his red bandana over his forehead, Alex realized that beating Gill hadn’t felt as good as the man, the myth, the legend, having him as a guest and respecting his conviction. Who cared about the Illuminati anyway? Too easy.

Alex was going to make his trip worthwhile, but first, breakfast.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wet sizzling sounds and the delicious scent of fish filled Ryu’s kitchen. 

Alex didn’t want to seem intrusive, so he stood by the doorway not saying anything. His eyes interchanged from Ryu’s back, the window, and the table. 

Eventually Ryu turned with the prepared food, motioning for Alex to sit down so they could eat. The man seemed completely at ease, unphased by the idea of the rematch, or at least it looked that way. Alex tried to conceal a deep, relaxing breath to calm his anxiety, both about the fight and about the possibility of overstepping any boundaries Ryu might have.

“You slept for about twelve hours,” Ryu mentioned out of the blue, breaking Alex from his worrisome thoughts. “It gave me the idea you didn’t plan your trip too well.” 

Alex huffed in embarrassment as he put some steaming fish fillets on his plate. “Yeah, not really. I just saved up some money working on cars, and now I’m here.”

“Hm.” Ryu closed his eyes and let the sun warm him while he began eating. The humidity was picking up, and since it was only around 7 o’clock, it seemed like the air itself would be melting, and the forest a sleepy haze of warmth by noon. “I used to be that way. When I was a bit younger than you I once went two days without eating because I took a wrong turn.”

“Woah, that’s crazy,” Alex commented. The fish was delicious, and the rice was perfectly fluffy. Seeing the myriad of scars on Ryu’s sculpted arms gave the impression that the man had a lot of stories to tell about his travels. “How’d you get out of that one?”

“I stumbled across a little town with a payphone.” Ryu sighed, staring at his food. “I called Ken and he picked me up. I stayed with him for a bit before leaving again.”

“So you guys trained together?” Alex asked. Thinking of the American karate champion was a far cry from the vague, stoic tales about Ryu in the martial arts community; Ken was a playboy with a stunning wife, as well as a tan and smile lines for magazine covers. “It’s weird thinking you two had the same teacher. Does he tell just anyone about you?”

“No,” Ryu smiled, shaking his head as if remembering something annoying in the moment, but pleasant in hindsight. “We have similar judgements about people. He probably noticed something in you. You also got lucky; I only spend a summer here every other year.”

“Why?” Alex didn’t know why he asked the question, but it came out without hesitation. He sipped his tea to avoid looking Ryu in the eye, something he usually didn’t have trouble doing with people.

Leaning back every-so-slightly in his chair, rolling his neck with a gentle crack, Ryu didn’t react to the question and simply responded, “It gives me a familiar place to train. Too many new things at once can stunt true growth; mediation is everything.”

They smiled at each other with a quiet sense of finality, choosing to eat in silence and give themselves as much energy as possible before the fight. Once the food was very much gone from their plates, Ryu gathered everything off the table and they went outside to the front of the estate. 

Neither of them had bothered to put on shoes; Ryu never seemed to wear them at all and Alex knew his kicks hurt just as bad without the combat boots. The dirt of the clearing was cool on his feet despite the rising temperature, and the sun was a good spot in the sky where it wasn’t causing him to pinch his face so his eyes didn’t strain against the brightness. 

Ryu walked ahead and turned, lowering his body with feet spread apart, one foot forward and one foot back. “Okay then,” he said, “show me that you’ve improved.”

The words made Alex’s chest ignite. He slouched forward with arms out, ready to grab and counter in any way he could. If he could just get one leg or arm in his grasp at the right moment, he’d have it. Tom’s words echoed in his mind:  _ You’ve got this. _

There was one more ruffle in the trees around them, and suddenly Alex was dashing forward towards Ryu’s stomach, elbow out and ready to stab. 

All Ryu had to do was inch himself to the left. He let Alex rush past uncontrollably before twisting and landing a solid kick in Alex’s stomach that sent him toppling backwards. He rolled over in the dirt, messy brown patches scattered all over his golden hair, but he gathered himself quickly and immediately ran back in Ryu’s direction. He waited for whatever Alex had, lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet with fists held up to his face.

Alex tried tackling low at the last second in an attempt to throw Ryu off and grab his legs, but Ryu saw through it and jumped, causing Alex to eat shit on the ground for the second time. Not even ten seconds had passed. Ryu’s landing foot got him in the jaw that time, but he rolled over to sit up on his knees and regain composure. He could have dodged that one, if he had been paying attention. Wiping the new stream of blood from his beaten lip, Alex growled to himself and watched Ryu go back into his stance with all the grace of a summer breeze.

“I know that’s not everything,” he said with demand in his voice, “so get up and come at me again.”

Smiling, Alex decided on what he thought would be a good move. Flexing all the muscles in his legs, he readied himself for a moment with a deep and quick breath that rejuvenated his lungs. He jumped with as much strength as he could muster (which was quite a lot), and suddenly found himself high in the air, throwing his body into a diving position and rocketing towards Ryu, full force. 

Much too quickly, Ryu bent down and Alex caught a glimpse of the man’s face twisting into something violent and determined. He saw a tangled mess of banded fingers ball up into a tight fist. Ryu jumped and met Alex in the air with a crushing punch to the bottom of Alex’s jaw (why was he going for the face so much?) and in a flash he was flying down, down, down. When Alex’s back hit the ground, dust attacked his nostrils, who wouldn’t obey when he tried to breath.

“Fuck,” Alex spit with the last morsel of air he had in his lungs.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck _ : It was all that was going through his brain.

He couldn’t open his eyes, only watch the slow morphing of red and blue shapes as the sun beat down on his battered body. Strong hands lifted him to sit up so that Alex could remember which way was up, and which was down, but the touch did make the pain worse.

“If I may,” he heard Ryu say, “I’ll tell you you were a bit too reckless.”

Alex was barely able to choke out a reply. “Yeah, sure.”

Ryu patted him on the back, which felt terrible. “You did give it your all, though. Let’s have some tea.”

Alex didn’t protest, just fell backwards and opened his eyes to watch Ryu walk to the dojo. 

They began quietly drinking tea on the porch. It wasn’t sweet, but Alex enjoyed it anyway; the warmth of it was soothing his aching jaw. He wanted to sigh and groan and complain, but that wasn’t going to do him any good. Holding back the urge to say something, he let the event sit while he thought about what he would do next. He stared at the golden shimmer in the trees and grass, wondering what he would tell Patricia and Tom when he got home.

He felt Ryu peer at him from where he sat cross-legged next to him, before the man interrupted his thoughts after several minutes passed and their tea was gone.

“Well,” Ryu said abruptly, standing to his feet and craning his neck to stretch, “let’s get back to it.” He smiled down at Alex’s forlorn expression, a promise in his eyes. “I wouldn’t have you spend the night just for one round. I know you’ve still got some left in you, so let’s go.” 

Once again not objecting, Alex followed suit, and the two sparred well into the evening. When they finally stopped the sky had become an orange glow, but Alex had seen the sun’s phases lying on the ground throughout the day up until that point. He didn’t win, not once, and he spoke less and less as the day went on despite Ryu’s encouraging comments in between matches. 

They sat on the porch again, watching the sunset. 

Ryu must have noticed Alex’s frustration, because he crossed his arms and twitched his jaw in a way that made him look like he was thinking. 

“You’ll have to do better tomorrow,” Ryu said, and Alex thought his heart must have escaped his body, because his chest began to shutter like a collapsing shed and the blood ran cold in his veins. 

“What?” Alex questioned, motioning his shoulders to look down at Ryu like he was a space alien. “Are you for real?”

“You want to keep fighting me, right?”

“Well, yeah--”

“Then I personally don’t see the problem, because I want to keep fighting you.” Ryu stared distantly into the darkening forest, seeing something that Alex couldn’t see.

The silence stretched on and Alex realized that meant he had agreed. He shrugged his shoulders, a grin pulling at his lips.  _ Eh,  _ he thought,  _ fuck it _ .

As the sky edged into a scope of pink and purple, and the air cooled into a blissful state of perfection, Alex asked, “When should I leave?” His voice was a bit weary, but he felt it was important to ask the question anyway.

“When you feel like you should,” Ryu replied. He grinned up at Alex. “Like I said before, it’s no skin off my back.”

Knowing he’d be getting more chances to prove himself, Alex felt more grounded and relaxed than he had since meeting Ryu. Thankful that their encounter wouldn’t just be a one-and-done, Alex said, “I’ll make sure I won’t waste your time then.”

“I know you won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alex's down h.p. in the air is so unsafe lol  
> I kind of rushed this the past few days. I would work on it, go weeks without coming back to it, and so on. Finally today I decided it would go up despite how much I dislike it. It's my least favorite of these so far; it just feels boring to me and it's waaaay too long. I wanted to go for a domestic feel but I should at least make the dialogue more interesting.  
> Tell me what you think and thank you for reading!


	4. Fishing

“See that tree over there?” Ryu asked, breaking Alex from his focus on fishing with a light tap on his shoulder.

Ryu was pointing to an enormous oak with long branches hanging over the water. A hazy light filled its shade where gentle waves reflected back on the bark, shrouding the area in a blue glow away from the sun-bleached air. It was across the lake from where they sat on the rocks eating into the water, where they were cooking alive, but in the best area for catching fish (in Ryu’s humble opinion).

“What about the tree?” Alex responded curiously, bored out of his mind from their fishless morning. He glanced at Ryu’s thoughtful expression, small spots of light catching his face beneath the holes in his sun hat.

“When Ken and I were small, we would go swimming. One time I climbed that tree branch over there and he made me fall out by throwing a rock at me.” He motioned with his finger, hovering higher and lower like something falling. “I broke my leg on a boulder and I almost drowned.”

Alex snickered. “What the hell? He almost killed ya that easily?”

There was a splash and a tug on Ryu’s fishing line, and he unhooked his criss-crossed legs to pull in the catch. 

After getting a good grip on the panicking fish, Ryu elaborated as he threw it into the basket, “Luckily he caught on pretty quick and helped me out of the lake, but Gouken was furious.” 

“Were ya mad?” Alex asked. 

“Hell yes,” Ryu huffed as he sat back down, throwing out a new line. Alex watched it gently fall onto the water like a feather. “He tried making it up to me by buying me a baseball magazine.”

Alex smiled, amused at the casual way Ryu spoke about Ken. He’d always been a celebrity in Alex’s eyes, and hearing real stories about domestic shenanigans when the sparring buddies were children was a little surreal. 

In a moment of quiet, the sun cooked them some more. They silently prayed for a cloud to cast a small amount of shade on them, but when Alex tipped up his sun hat and stared into the washed-out horizon, all hope for that little luxury was gone. He sighed and wondered when a damn stupid fish was going to bite for him.

“I remember what I said to him, though,” Ryu said, presumably continuing his story. While Alex felt like he was dying, Ryu looked happy as could be: He had taken off the top of his gi, letting it hang by his hips, and had folded his pant legs to his knees. Alex did the same as the man kept speaking, relishing the feeling of his ankles getting fresh air. “He handed me the magazine and I was so angry that I threw it at his face and yelled, ‘I hate baseball!’”

“Do you really hate baseball?” There was laughter in Alex’s voice.

“After that incident I didn’t prefer it, no.” He shook his head. “He was devastated.”

Yet another fish bit Ryu’s line, and Alex felt like the world hated him. 

Ryu grinned cheekily at his score of two, clapping his hands together to get water off his palms. “Are you going to catch any fish?” 

Teasing edged his tone, something that only occured in Ryu’s voice rarely. The sound made something burn in Alex’s chest that wasn’t from the heat of the air, and it bothered him to the point of mild frustration. 

Alex shrugged, gripping the fishing pole tighter and brushing the thoughts away. “I don’t know what you’re expectin’ with a city boy fishin’ for you.”

“Hmm.”

Once a good amount of fish had been caught (all by Ryu. The one Alex managed to pull in had slipped out of his fingers, back into the lake), they started making their way back to the dojo. Since Ryu had caught everything, Alex offered to carry their load, but found it hard to navigate the rocks with a basket of fish on his back. He was scared shitless that he might drop their dinner for the next two days onto the hot dirt.

“Here,” Ryu said, holding out his hand. 

“Thanks,” Alex said without hesitation, locking their fingers together and letting Ryu guide him over the tall rocks until they reached the main trail. It didn’t feel strange letting another grown man hold his hand for that length of time, though in any other context Alex might have been uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure why the justification even came across his mind; Ryu didn’t want all the fish he caught to go bad, either.

Once they got back to Ryu’s house, the two of them sparred for a few hours to kill time until dinner. It was somewhat of a routine the two had picked up after the first few days of Alex’s arrival, and he really felt like his decision to stay was paying off.

Mid-fight, Alex managed to block a high kick to his face. Ryu dashed backwards and came back in with a sharp elbow threatening to blacken Alex’s eye, but he dodged under it to counter with a hard shove of his shoulder into Ryu’s chest. The impact was solid and satisfying.

Surprised at his first real counter after ten days of sparring, Alex smiled wide to himself, jumping ecstatically back into a defensive position once Ryu gave him a nod of approval. Despite the heat pushing down on them, Alex felt so full of energy that it was almost unhealthy. A chance was floating just outside the grip of his fingers, and he wanted to take it and hold it and never let it go.

In his childlike hopefulness, Ryu was attacking again, but with the way his arm was craning back, Alex felt like he could see the punch coming a mile away. He tipped himself to the left just a tad, and grabbed the arm with both elbows hooked around Ryu’s bicep, hoping to throw the man into submission. Ryu’s eyes widened quickly before he readied his feet and did something Alex really didn’t expect, but probably should have. 

Alex’s whole world spun upside down until he was flat on his back, air knocked out of him (again). Being so big Alex had a habit of assuming opponents smaller than him couldn’t lift him, which proved right a lot of the time, but lately . . . hadn’t been.

Blinking, Alex tried getting air back into his body as the shock wore away and his senses came back to him. Ryu was over him, still gripping Alex’s arm firmly with his lips slightly parted, and bare chest ballooning and deflating. He was actually  _ out of breath _ .

The corners of Ryu’s mouth slid into a happy grin, shadowed as the sun hung behind him. “You’re getting it,” Ryu complimented. “That was fun.”

Alex felt his brain snap like a camera taking a picture, unwillingly having the image seared into his mind. His eyes twitched from Ryu’s face to somewhere higher, catching the pattern of abs and scars where he could see down an open gi, and his breath threatened to catch again even though he hadn’t been punched in the stomach. 

“Sh-shit,” Alex whispered. Ryu’s expression fell, so he quickly explained. “How strong are you, anyway?”

“I  _ have _ been doing this since I could walk . . .” Ryu replied, eyes darting to the dirt for a moment. “But you almost had me there, don’t forget that.”

Unable to tell himself how he was feeling, the only way Alex could rationalize it was that he felt small, but good about it too. Win some, lose some; nothing new about the experience. At all.

“Hey, Ryu!” a voice, a female one, rang out from near the forest. 

Ryu’s jaw snapped up to see the disturbance that Alex couldn’t, and suddenly he very quickly helped Alex up off the ground, leaving to greet the newcomer with a pat on his shoulder. 

A young woman with short, boyish brown hair approached them and Alex was surprised she didn’t look dead from the hike like he had when he first showed up. She looked vaguely familiar, but was unable to pinpoint where he had seen her before. 

“Hello, Sakura,” Ryu said happily, his face beaming as the two of them hugged like close old friends. “How long has it been?”

“A year, give or take,” Sakura replied as she pulled away and brushed some hair behind her ear with a gloved hand. Her eyes wandered to Alex absently, and he smiled back at her with an awkward wave of his hand. “And who are you?”

“Name’s Alex, nice to meet ya,” he said as they shook hands. He felt the strength of her grip betrayed the fragility her slender frame gave off. She had a red headband of her own just like Ryu’s, and so some boxes ticked in Alex’s head that he didn’t feel the need to clarify.

“I’m Sakura Kasugano!” she smiled, her cheeks red and lively like two apples were growing in her face. She glanced back at Ryu while readjusting the backpack on her shoulder. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything?”

“Somewhat,” Ryu said with a gentle roll of his eyes. They glittered when he saw she was pestered by the comment. She grinned and shrugged as if it were her parents teasing her, which he ignored by stretching his arms high above his head. “But it’s alright. I’d say we should have dinner and catch up?”

“Oh, thank God!” Sakura wailed, walking past them to the dojo with her hands clasping her stomach. “I’m starving! I wish you could live anywhere else besides the side of a mountain, Ryu.” She draped her arm over the man’s shoulders, and he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. As much as Alex was kinda pissed that their fight was cut short, he couldn’t deny the strong sense of satisfaction he was feeling at the same time.

He was tired, and hungry as hell anyway.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just as Alex thought Sakura’s build didn’t convey how strong she was, her small waist didn’t convey how much she could eat. She was halfway through seconds when Alex was still on his first plate.

“Karin was on a family trip to discuss business in the Middle East,” Sakura explained after swallowing another large bite of fish. “I got bored as hell and I knew we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so I just decided to drop in.”

“Well I see that,” Ryu said. Alex thought he saw Ryu’s eyebrows furrow a smidge, but it was gone in an instant. “So, how  _ is  _ Karin?”

“She’s great! I mean, we argue every other day like always. I swear, sometimes I feel like she married me just to have a better chance at beating me some day!” Sakura held her head back to laugh like a drunken sailor, only for her face to fall once she thought more about her wife. “I kinda miss her already, though.”

“When are you going back?” Ryu asked.

“Probably tomorrow evening,” Sakura said as she sadly trailed the lip of her tea cup with her thumb. “I just had to, ya know . . .”

“You’re always welcome, as far as I’m concerned.” He smiled at her and she smiled back, before aptly remembering her ferocious appetite, and chowed down on more rice while Ryu sipped his tea like her table manners weren’t terrible.

Sakura’s light-catching brown eyes looked at Alex curiously. “So where are you from?”

“New York,” Alex replied. “Ran into Ryu back home a few weeks back and got my ass kicked, so I showed up here for a rematch.”

She nodded understandably, then snorted. “You never seem to get a quiet summer here, huh Ryu?”

“Alex is good company, actually,” Ryu reasoned with a soft lilt in his voice. 

Nearly choking on his tea, Alex had the urge to ask the man sitting across from him what the hell he was talking about, but was too caught up in how good the compliment felt to argue. Another thought of why he even  _ had  _ that thought entered his mind . . . again.

He feigned a casual reaction with a tired grin and said, “Eh, I’m not bad for somebody who just dropped in, I guess.”

The topic, thankfully, stopped there. The worrisome ideas in Alex’s head faded away as Sakura talked more about her wife’s escapades as a member of the Kanzuki family, and they hollered with each other when they realized they both knew Rainbow Mika once Karin’s sponsorships came up in conversation. Eventually Sakura crashed in her sleeping bag in the living area, snoring a little too loudly. 

“She’ll probably fight me tomorrow,” Ryu said softly, as he put away the last bowl. He was moving with such delicacy that it was almost funny. “You should watch.”

“Hm,” Alex droned, his eyes heavy. “Maybe I can pick up how to kick  _ your _ ass finally.”

Ryu’s back was to him, but the man craned his neck just enough so Alex saw a wide smile spreading crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. “Maybe . . .”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Lying on his futon, hands behind his head and eyes adjusted to the dark, Alex thought about the whole day. He thought about sparkling water, and wriggling fish, and how frustrated he was at how much he lost every single day. What was so different about that Ryu guy, anyway? 

Something bubbled in Alex’s stomach, so much that his back arched up at the feeling. Warmth spread across his face, and he wondered why he was acting so fucking weird. It was so  _ hot _ , too. 

Draping an elbow over his eyes, Alex thought it had to be the fact he’d been away from town for so long. Unfortunately his stomach fell at the realization that his journey to find Gill and fight him hadn’t had any of those feelings, but hey, maybe the anger and revenge had just masked his neediness for civilization. 

He sighed to himself and tried to sleep, but with no outer stimuli to distract himself from the thoughts he’d been having all day, Alex sighed gruffly and settled onto his back again. 

To him it felt wrong, and his fingers gripped the fabric of the futon like he wanted to strangle something. He was in Ryu’s  _ home _ ; the thought of masturbating in another person’s living space seemed gross to him. And yet, the aching in his stomach pulsed on, like his own heart was trying to tell him he was just as much a living thing with blood as he was a person. 

And just like any other person, a justification spoke out clearly in his sleepy, chaotic head: If he was quiet and just cleaned up afterwards, everything would be fine. No harm done.

Remembering that there were, in fact, tissues and baby wipes in his duffel bag, Alex swallowed as he hooked his thumbs into the hem of his boxers and pulled them down.

He was completely hard just a few moments after he touched himself (he hadn’t jerked off in weeks), and he found it hard to keep himself quiet. It was so hard for him to not make any noise that he kept one hand over his mouth while he stroked with the other, eyes closed so he could imagine. He pictured the usual fare: Beautiful women, O-faced and moaning, taking it hard on a mattress. 

Alex’s body tightened and arched as he quickly reached his climax, glad that his dirty deed would be dealt with quickly so he could focus on never thinking of it again, until the last few pulls towards that heaven eliminated the gorgeous models from his fantasies.

With the movements of his hand suddenly out of his control, abs and scars and flexing muscles slammed into Alex’s thoughts without his consent whatsoever. Firm fingers wrapped around his arms and held him down while sunlight shone around fluffy black hair and lips, under soft and abyss-like eyes, got closer and closer while Alex rode out the white heat spreading throughout his system. 

Snapping his eyes open, letting all the breath funnel out of his beating chest, Alex remembered he was alone in the dark with nothing but a crushing and scary realization. He leaned on his elbows for support and thought about Ryu, a sickening sense of shame that he didn’t want to feel washing over him.

It destroyed the blissful afterglow of his orgasm, as well as the blissful ignorance of what buzzing energy had been seething under his skin since that morning when Ryu teased him for not being able to catch any fucking fish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote some spicy stuff in this one. It'll get more intense later, since I know the way I wrote it here warrants a mature rating, not an explicit one.  
> It feels good actually keeping up with a project, even if it's suuuuper slow. Writing this is fun and there are some things bringing me out of my comfort zone which has to be good for something lol.


	5. Hunger

The breath Alex took was shaky, as if the air around was cold, though it was very much the opposite. He felt the sweat already building between his skin and the payphone in his fingers, and he hadn’t even dialed Tom’s phone number yet.

After punching in the digits (which was pretty difficult, given how old the machine was), Alex absently listened to the hazy rings on the other line while he caught Ryu speaking with a man down the street. They were laughing at something the stranger said, at least that’s what he thought. So many people around made it hard to tell.

“Yeah?” a deep, tired voice said on the other line. “Alex? That you?”

“Yeah. You okay?” Alex asked, holding the phone against his face with his shoulder so he could lean no the box part of the payphone. “How ya doin’?”

“Well, it’s . . . lemme see.”  _ Oh no _ , Alex thought. “About 4 in the morning?”

“Sorry Tom.” Alex mentally kicked himself in the nuts, unable to believe that his stupid petulance over his feelings for Ryu lead him to forget he and Tom were in different parts of the world. “I forgot about the timezones. Can I still talk?”

“‘Course you can. What’s up? Kickin’ ass like you promised?”

Alex laughed, feeling unsteady on numbing feet. “Well, Tom. It’s, uhhh . . .” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sakura approaching Ryu and the salesmen (?) with some very colorful bags in her hands.

“Yeah, Alex, what is it? You okay?”

“Yeah yeah, I just . . .” Alex had spent minutes and minutes thinking about what he would tell Tom, and suddenly the words wouldn’t come, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. “I think I need to come home.”

There was a pregnant pause, enough time for Alex to get lost staring at Ryu smile at things and people some more. Alex wished the warm sensation in his chest like the sweet aftertaste of wine would wash away, but instead the confused chemicals in his brain were threatening to throw him into a drunken stupor. 

Tom’s voice was a distant call he didn’t catch. “Why do you want to do that? It’s been what, two weeks?”.

Alex didn’t answer. 

“Hey, you there?”

An electric shock of embarrassment shot through his system, reminding him of social etiquette once more. “Y-yeah, sorry. Tom, it’s just . . . I miss you and Patty. I think it’s time I stopped travelling, and I might come back to try again. I’m not sure. I just wanna come home.” Part of it was true and part of it was just wanting to find an excuse; anything, really.

Another pause, and Alex knew Tom must have noticed him catching his breath after stumbling over his words. Alex didn’t talk much, but he didn’t choke on them when he did.

“Okay, I understand,” Tom said with an undercurrent of concern in his voice. 

“Alright. I’ll be home in a day, probably.” He sighed, twirling the phone chord in his fingers. The weight of the day had been lifted off his shoulders, as if telling Tom his plan finally cemented in his mind that he would be able to get away from his anxieties.

“Okay bud. Love you, see ya soon.”

“You too. Bye.”

Alex barely heard the phone cling back onto its holder. Feeling a little better at the idea of seeing his family again, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and worked his way through a thick and energetic crowd of bossy parents and running children to Ryu and Sakura, who were still speaking with the stranger. He appeared to be a salesmen of some kind, with barrels of rice and produce. Even though Alex didn’t speak Japanese, the erratic movements of the man’s arms clearly expressed he was telling some sort of story.

Ryu acknowledged Alex with a nod as he was listening to the salesmen speak. Hauling a bag of rice over his shoulder, he waved a hand and told the man something in Japanese that made him stop his tale. There was one final exchange of pleasantries before Ryu motioned his arm for all of them to walk away.

“Know that dude?” Alex asked, tilting his head down as he walked. Sakura leaned in from the other side to hear better.

Ryu sighed with a smile on his face. “Well for the past twenty years, whenever I’ve bought rice from that man, I’ve had to hear an awful story about his wife.”

A long, dry snort came from Sakura’s throat as her stomach caved. For a moment her face resembled a chipmunk’s cheeks full of food. 

Ryu shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a courtesy. He sells the best rice around here, in my opinion. So I lend an ear.”

Alex noticed they were approaching the train station, and a strong wash of dread came over him as he realized that once Sakura was gone, it would be just he and Ryu at his house. For, like, twelve hours. Awesome. He bit his lip and tried to remind himself that he was a grown-ass man and the way he was feeling was stupid. It worked a little bit.

Once Sakura bought her train ticket and they were waiting by the track with some handfuls of people trying to catch shade under the awnings, Ryu said he was going to the restroom. Alex took the bag of rice over his shoulder until he got back.

“That fight you two had this morning was pretty cool,” Alex mentioned for small talk. “Ya got some good hits in.”

Sakura smiled, rosy cheeks a little rosier. “Thanks! That’s usually how it goes with him. I’ll kick his ass one of these days.” She turned her head to look down the track as it thinned into the bleached-out distance. The heat made wiggling lines along the horizon, making Alex’s headache worse.

“You know,” Sakura mentioned, “people don’t usually stay with him as long as you have. Most of the time he prefers being alone.”

“Lots of people do,” Alex said offhandedly, though for some reason he felt like he shouldn’t have. “I like challenges; it makes being around people fun.”

“So does he, sometimes I think a bit too much.” Sakura looked up at Alex, having to crane her head nearly all the way back in order to do so. Her eyebrow was crooked in a teasing way. “Something you gotta know about Ryu is that he never really says what he wants. Most things you have to ask  _ him  _ about. Unless it’s a fight he won’t ask for it.”

“I’m a little hard-headed myself,” Alex said, partially confused. Yesterday he heard somewhere in a conversation they had that Sakura and Ryu knew each other for years and years. If Sakura was trying to tell him something, he wasn’t sure what. “Us guys are just like that, you know?”

She rolled her eyes, but he wasn’t offended by it. “Oh, I know,” she said with a chuckle bouncing around the words.

Ryu came back and gingerly took back the rice bag, and within a few minutes the train arrived. He and Sakura hugged each other tightly and for a moment Alex felt like he shouldn’t be there. 

“Take care of yourself, okay?” Sakura said softly. “The last time I visited you--”

Ryu quickly switched his head to Alex’s direction, eyes a little wide, and turned back to Sakura. “Yes, yes, I know, Sakura,” he said hurriedly, “don’t worry. I’ll be okay.”

In the weird scuffle Sakura scratched her head and apologized quickly, once she realized Alex was a person nearby who was actually listening to what they were saying. She looked at him and did a cute little wave. 

“Nice meeting you, by the way,” she said. Her face was red from what she said a moment ago, looking worried as if she was out of line. “Maybe next time we can test each other as well.” They shook hands one final time.

She boarded the train and she continued waving from the tiny window as the wheels roared and carried the passengers away. Looking down at Ryu, Alex noticed the expression on his face looked like the same thing he felt when he saw Patricia away for summer camp one year.

They got on a bus for the hiking trail, and by that time in the day it was nearing sundown. It was horrible and uncomfortable; the bus was way too small and it kept hitting rocks or potholes, so not even the music from Alex’s walkman could drown out the racket of people and aged metal. Somehow Ryu fell asleep on the way; perhaps he was used to it. At one point a sudden swerve from the bus driver made him lean over onto Alex’s shoulder and he didn’t wake up. Alex wanted to die.

Thankfully once they arrived at the stop, the motion jumped Ryu from his sleep, and he didn’t seem to notice where he had been. The relief Alex felt was indescribable, and yet the emotional toll seemed to make it all the more hard to keep up when they started hiking.

“Is she, like, your sister?” Alex asked. The words had a hard time leaving his mouth with his tired, uneven breaths. “That girl Sakura?”

“Oh?” Ryu hummed from a short ways ahead. His hair was shining silver under the full moon and he was moving slowly, eyeing the brush around him. “Yes, that’s a good way to describe it. I met her when she was still a highschooler.”

“I’ve got a little sister too,” Alex said. He wasn’t sure why he was saying what he was saying; Sakura’s analysis of Ryu’s personality popped into his head again, and suddenly some things were falling into place. “I think I’m gonna go home tomorrow, actually. I miss her, and her dad too.”

Ryu stopped in his tracks. Alex thought the cicadas’ chanting quieted down as well. “Oh. Different fathers?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. He took me in when my folks passed and he taught me everything I know.”

Crossing his arms, Ryu locked eyes with him, trying to tell Alex something he couldn’t understand. If he could figure anything from the look, it was definitely something sympathetic. Maybe it was because of the darkness. “He must be a great teacher. It helps when they’re like a father, too.”

“Thanks.” Alex caught up with Ryu and their shoulders touched by accident. Ryu did nothing and he didn’t seem to care, but Alex almost fell back down the steps jumping back. “Uh, he was a friend of my dad’s.”

Ryu absently scratched his hair. He continued walking as he spoke, readjusting the bag of rice so it didn’t slip out of his grip. “You don’t seem like the type to give up.” Alex’s chest got tight at the way he said it; it was challenging, but sweet. “But I respect a man who wants to take care of his family, and when to focus on something besides himself.”

Alex’s brain felt like a ticking time bomb trying to figure out whether or not that sentence had a double meaning.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were doing something they had done a lot of the past eleven days whenever they weren’t punching each other, which was drinking tea on the porch. The moon might as well have been a second sun, contrasting every shadow with a stark white aura.

“It’s kinda funny,” Ryu said. The steam rising from the tea was very noticeable in the greyish darkness, wrapping around his face. Alex let himself feel it was a pretty sight. “Sakura probably mentioned to you how long you’ve stayed here.”

Shoulders tensing, Alex immediately assured it was true. “Yeah, she did.” He laughed a smidge to alleviate his own anxiety. 

“She’s always worried about how alone I am. I never really think about it; I just do what I want. Sometimes I visit my brother and his family.”

“I don’t think about people one way or the other,” Alex said. “Sometimes they’re around, sometimes they’re not. I know I love my family, though.”

Ryu nodded. It was hard to tell but Alex thought he saw a soft smile, and felt some heat emanating from his skin. “Besides family, though . . . I suppose everyone needs people, at least a little.”

A very perverse thought reminded Alex that they were completely alone, echoing in his head with a voice that didn’t belong to him. They were alone in the blanket of the dark where no one could judge or hear or whatever else. The night air was still and hod, but not  _ so _ hot that Alex would prefer to be inside. Looking at the way Ryu’s jaw flexed and unflexed sipping his tea and the strong fingers holding the cup and that amazing skin shining so beautifully made it really, really hard for Alex not to just go in and kiss him to death.

Still, he waited. He waited and he realized their thighs were touching a little, and it was like touching hot coals. Torture.

With a shaky breath, Alex asked, “In what kinda ways do people need each other, just a little?”

It was a question that  _ could  _ have ruined everything; the potential for a new friendship and a stronger bond for their ultimate goals in life, but it didn’t. 

As if whatever gods Alex didn’t believe in were trying to bless him, Ryu glowed at Alex’s inquiry. His eyes expressed something Alex had never seen before: Hunger. They scanned over every part of Alex’s body before Ryu set down the tea cup with a soft  _ clink  _ on the porch wood.

Alex didn’t know what he was expecting. The first thought was that kissing a man wasn’t that much different from kissing a woman, the only one being the scratch of Ryu’s shaved face around his lips. The second thought was that Ryu was really, really good at it.

With steam coming out of his ears and being at risk of a heart attack, Alex kissed back as good as he could. The pressure between their mouths was intense and Ryu knew just when to tilt his head and rewrap his mouth around Alex’s. His fingertips held Alex’s jaw in place for his tongue to make its way through and a shiver went down his spine, straight to his dick. He never wanted something so bad in his life. 

Ryu pulled away, and Alex loved the sight of his tongue sliding over his lip before he raised his wrist to wipe some of the drool away. “Sorry,” Ryu mentioned, “it’s been a while.”

“If that’s you when you’re rusty,” Alex panted with a lust-drunk smile, “then I need that when you’ve practiced a bit.”

They sat there for a moment, their gazes flicking between eye contact and their mouths. Eventually Alex leaned in again, this time taking hold of Ryu’s hips, feeling their carved and firm shape. Ryu’s hands carefully travelled over Alex’s shoulders, before sliding down and feeling his abs. The intimate press of their flesh made Alex feel like he was moving a damn mountain, his heart so full of want that it might make him run off a cliff like a lunatic.

They made out for a few minutes, feeling each other up. A bunch of scenarios ran through Alex’s head of what he wanted to do that night, but Alex wasn’t sure exactly what Ryu would be down for, so he didn’t assume anything. He could settle for Ryu grabbing his ass at that time, though--it was pretty nice. 

When they pulled away again, Ryu stared at him hard. Alex felt his finger pressed against the edge of his mouth. There was a shift in the fabric of Ryu’s gi in Alex’s hands, and while he didn’t stop looking at his face, he knew what it probably was. 

“Do you want what I can give you?” Ryu asked him. His voice was graceful and deep.

“What’s that?” Alex pressed, finding it really hard to find words. “Whatever it is, I’ll probably dig it.”

The smile Ryu gave him was intoxicating.

The man slid down in between his legs, positioning himself so that his head was hovering above the crotch of Alex’s overalls. Alex felt his nerves coming undone after feeling the deep, hot breaths through the denim, so much that it actually hurt when his dick got harder. Remembering the tent in Ryu’s pants made Alex hope he could return whatever favor Ryu was about to do for him.

“Oh shit,” Alex breathed as he felt his pants being pulled down. “Have you ever been with a guy before?”

Ryu looked up at him and nodded. “Yes. Well, the last time was some years ago.”

“That’s . . . huh.” Even though they had already spent minutes kissing, something about that idea surprised him.

“Oh, what?” Ryu asked teasingly. “Because I’m a guy in the mountains that means I don’t like intimacy every now and then?”

Burying his face in his hands, Alex tried not to let the embarrassment kill his boner.

“Have you?” Ryu continued.

“Uh, no,” Alex replied. He peeled his hands from his face; he was NOT going to say out loud that he was nervous, but he could tell by the soft look in Ryu’s eyes that he noticed it anyway. “You’re the first one. But I like this, so far.”

Without another word, Ryu pulled down Alex’s pants the rest of the way, exposing the bulge in his boxers. He took a moment to stare at it and Alex felt flattered, because he noticed Ryu swallowing at the sight of it. 

One more tug and Alex was released from his underwear, so hard that the tip nearly bounced against his abs. The movement almost looked silly, but Alex didn’t have time to think about that since Ryu immediately gripped the cock in his hands. A gasp escaped Alex’s throat at the touch. 

“Do you like it?” Alex asked. Being a pretty big guy, he considered himself pretty well-endowed at 8 inches. He didn’t brag about it, but he had never had a negative reaction to its size. 

“It’s the biggest I’ve seen,” Ryu complimented. “I like a good challenge, though.”

He watched Ryu while he pressed his thumb against the tip, smirking at the amount of precum spilling from it. It had already been leaking quite a lot. Alex was so shaken that he nearly coughed. He was getting impatient; at some point in the night he had to see the rise in Ryu’s throat as he choked on him. He  _ had  _ to see it, or else he would die.

“Please,” Alex whimpered when Ryu leaned forward and kissed the tip of his cock. Whatever Ryu knew how to do, he was good at it. “Just take me in, man. I’m going crazy.”

“Okay,” Ryu agreed, with another smirk.

Alex almost wished he hadn’t said that, because the sudden cavern of wet heat and the firm press of Ryu’s tongue on his shaft gave Alex the impression of what an earthquake might be like. He didn’t regret it but he also felt in danger, his entire world shaking and keeping his jaw open. He would probably combust if those moans didn’t escape him.

“F-fuck,” Alex panted. “Can’t believe you’re this good.”

Ryu was taking him down halfway, and that would have worked just fine for the whole thing, but he went the extra mile and ate the rest until Alex felt his cock touching the back of Ryu’s throat. The boiling something in his stomach was getting hotter and hotter to the point Alex felt he genuinely had a fever, his heart threatening to burst out, but he did his best to focus on Ryu himself. The sight alone was really getting him off--not just the technical prowess. 

With his left hand on Alex’s thigh for leverage, Ryu had reached down into his own pants to pump himself. He was doing the job like he meant it, too; drool pooled out of his caved mouth and the slurping sounds conveyed the most effort Alex had ever received for a blowjob. 

While he was trying really hard not to, Alex’s hips faintly rebelled against his will and bucked a few times into Ryu’s mouth. He expected the man to stop and catch his breath, but he didn’t, and actually picked up the pace in response.

Alex leaned back on his elbows to stare down and enjoy the show. Soon his vision started to blur and he felt like he wasn’t able to control any part of his body, including the desperate moaning. He would probably cringe remembering those later, but at the moment nothing mattered except the sight of Ryu’s bulging Adam’s apple the slick shine of his dick going in, out, in, out --

“Ah!” Alex gasped, the orgasm hitting him like a truck. Delicious pleasure gripped him tightly. In the chaos he heard a loud grunt, which could have only been Ryu going down with him. As much as Alex appreciated getting sucked through the whole thing, the sensitivity also came in quickly. “Holy shit--stop, stop, stop.”

“Are you okay?” Ryu asked, that smirk back and full-force, wiping a little bit of semen off his lip with his wrist. His breathing was choppy, like he’d run a marathon.

His voice slightly muffled from underneath the elbow draped over his face, Alex replied, “Yeah, just gimme a minute. Damn.”

Ryu laughed at Alex’s orgasmic afterglow, sitting over beside him to lean on his knees and rest. After a long minute (or eternity, could have been either one), Ryu said, “I’m sorry if this ruins the mood, but do you feel like I did that to make you stay, or leave with me?” Alex heard the subtle hurt in his voice.

“Nah, man, not at all,” Alex assured, removing his elbow to look at the night sky. “Didn’t even cross my mind.” It was true. 

Ryu was silent for a moment. “That’s good. Will we try to cross paths again, when we both continue our journeys?” He looked down at Alex, silver dots in a dark abyss of age beyond that of a normal human life. There was curiosity and knowledge in their all at once, and Alex could have stared into those eyes for a long time, if he could. 

_ No, I wanna travel with you. This whole guy thing is new to me but I wanna be with you and try.  _

“Yeah,” Alex said instead, rolling onto his side. “I know you ride alone, but I hope we meet again. AND I’ll win next time, too.”

“We’ll see about that,” Ryu told him, and Alex felt like his smile hurt more than any punch to the face Ryu had given him since they met. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done with this story. One or two more chapters to go.  
> So I know a lot of people think of Ryu as being an asexual character, and that's obviously okay (people can headcanon whatever they please), but personally I love the idea of Ryu being super casual about sex? Especially when he was younger? Like, this guy grew up basically around no one until he was 22 or whatever and suddenly he's walking all over the world; he's gonna be curious about some things.  
> Tell me what you think! And thanks for reading. I'm going to try and get the next chapter out much faster.


	6. Guilty

The next morning wasn’t that awkward at all. At least, Alex appreciated that Ryu didn’t seem to think so. The second Alex opened his eyes, the previous night came crashing down on him like an anvil and for some reason, he got really scared. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t stop it either.

So it was good when he rolled over on the porch wood to see Ryu meditating right beside him, eyes closed and cool and unmoving beneath his eyelids. 

“Good morning, Alex,” Ryu said without any change to his expression. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Alex’s spine was wound tighter than a perfect knot. “When did you get up?”

“Crack of dawn, like always. I made some tea by the way.”

“Hm.” Alex tilted his head to peer at the sun-bleached yard. It was probably not much later than 10 in the morning. 

Ryu’s casual attitude after their intimacy last night made Alex feel better, for sure. It also caused another emotion that Alex couldn’t pin as positive or negative, not to mention a little confused. Not wanting to bother the man anymore, Alex got some steaming tea and came back to lean against the doorframe, looking into the forest while he tried to remember the layout of the airport in Kochi. He saw some birds playfully chasing each other, bouncing from branch to branch while chirping an annoying song. 

“When are you leaving?” Ryu asked, simply and quietly. The second he said it Alex realized the man knew the true reason for his departure, period.

“Today,” Alex said. It sounded fine, but his brain stumbled over the words, like he had fallen from a ledge without seeing where his feet weren’t able to find solid ground. There was only air below him. Ryu’s posture didn’t change, perfectly still. “I slept in--probably gotta leave in a couple hours.”

There was a steady exhale from Ryu’s nostrils. When he turned his head, the genuine kindness in his face made Alex’s heart break a little. “You’ve got a long day ahead of you, then. How about one final breakfast?”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A heavy feeling had weighed itself on Alex’s chest all morning, subtle at first, but crushing by the time he zipped up his duffel bag. When punching something wasn’t going to be the solution to his emotions slowly killing him, it felt even worse and made him a little pissed. 

“It was nice, having you here,” Ryu said, his voice from behind him echoing pleasantly in Alex’s ears. As he wrapped the duffel bag over his shoulder, he heard an uncomfortable noise come from Ryu’s throat. “And about what we did . . . I’m sorry if I caused any strange feelings.”

“Not at all,” Alex lied, and when he turned around he could see in Ryu’s face that he knew he was lying. Alex did something he absolutely _hated_ doing in conversation: he looked at the floor. “I mean, I guess I don’t know how to feel about it. I just know I have an urge to go home, so . . .”

“I understand,” Ryu soothed. The older man had been through a little more in life, seen more silhouettes fade into the horizon than Alex had. Maybe he was just processing it all differently--people come, people go, so the saying went. “For what it’s worth, I haven’t felt like that--well, like _this_ in a long time.”

A blush creeped into Alex’s face. He couldn’t stop the grin creeping on his lips, either. “Thanks. Me too, I think.”

Where they stood by the open doorway, left open from the heat, Alex saw Ryu bathed in golden yellow and natural summer buzz. Would it be weird to kiss him goodbye?

“Until we meet again?” Ryu asked, with an odd amount of hope in his voice. 

Alex nodded, taking in a deep breath just to hold himself together. “Yeah, until then. Sooner rather than later.”

He waved and Ryu did the same, as weird as it felt. He didn’t look back until he was far down the trail, so far that in the deep woods on those ancient crumbling steps, Alex felt like it had all been a simple dream. 

The rest was a blur: the bus ride, the airport, waiting for the airplane to take off, all of it just humming white noise in Alex’s head. Once he leaned back in his seat, a clear image formed in his brain for the first time in hours; Ryu, looking so inviting and a little sad just before his selfish ass walked out the door. Alex sighed, quiet and hiss-like, wanting to punch himself in the gut for not kissing the man like he should have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very short, but honestly I just wanted to post something. I don't have a lot of time to write despite how much I like it, what with life and all, so I need to remind myself that this is just a shipfic for a rarepair I adore so pacing doesn't have to be such a big deal. Whatever helps me feel better I guess, lol.  
> God I love writing men when they feel emotionally vulnerable. Something about it just hits different, you know?


	7. Coward

By the time the plane had landed, and Alex had managed to wave down a cab after standing like a corpse on the curb, the night sky was barely creeping into a grey overcast. He was so tired that he didn’t even see the transitional space between leaving said cab, walking up the steps of Tom’s apartment, and throwing himself on the couch to fall back asleep (though he wouldn’t call what he got on the plane ‘sleep’). 

Eventually, because it was a Saturday, Patty woke him up with a shake of his shoulder that could have been more gentle. 

“Hello?” she prodded. Alex could hear her quite well but wasn’t mentally ready to answer yet. “Alex? Hellllloooo, Alex, are you dead?”

“Wish I was,” he grumbled with his eyes still shut before grappling his baby sister into a bear hug. She squealed in laughter, hammering her fists along his forearm in a fruitless effort.

“Am I going to have to call the cops over a domestic dispute?” Tom joked from where he stood by the kitchen’s entryway. Both hands held a steaming cup of coffee. “Because it looks like I’m watching a grown man strangle my child.”

“Wouldn’t be a problem if she let me get some shut-eye,” Alex said as he gave Patty a noogie before letting her go to claim his coffee. He’d completely gotten over his caffeine withdrawal over the trip, but the relief he felt at the first sip was sublime. 

“With all due respect,” Tom said as he hooked an arm around Alex’s shoulder, his old green robe waving around his legs, “I’m pretty sure you slept for about ten hours.”

Patricia got a little revenge punching her older brother in the arm, beaming as she skipped into the kitchen to start breakfast (brunch?).

Tom’s smile straightened out a little when Patty left. Looking at Alex with concern on his face, he asked, “Everything go okay?”

His father-figure looked unconvinced at the face he was trying to pull off, but Alex answered with as much sincerity as possible. “Yeah, yeah, it was awesome! Lemme tell you guys about it.”

Before Tom could respond, Alex followed Patty into the kitchen, and out of the corner of his eye he saw all Tom could do was slump his shoulders and spend the rest of his Saturday afternoon listening to his children banter.

“We had to fish every day for food, and bring buckets for water,” Alex explained to a wide-eyed Patty, who gave off nothing like the angry little girl she was when he left unannounced weeks ago. Tom wasn’t smiling, but had a soft look of curiosity, as if he were waiting for a confession of some kind. “And we fought every day, for hours. Knocked me on my butt every time.”

Patty lifted her head from her palm in roused suspicion, eyebrow curved like she’d been told a lie that disrespected her intelligence. “You didn’t win at all?” Her question brought a silence to the table that was only made worse by Tom’s frown. 

Alex flitted between Tom and Patty, Tom and Patty . . . how would he even answer that question?

“Uh, no, I didn’t.”

The most obvious thing popped out of his mouth. Alex wished it hadn’t. The lack of words and the sudden drop of levity hung on his shoulders like lead, and the sunshine felt out of place, causing him to really notice the bitterness of the coffee on his tongue. 

“Why did you come home then?” Patty asked as innocently as possible, leaning on her hands against the table as she looked at Alex. “I thought you wanted to . . . usually you always win.”

Gripping his fingers tightly around the coffee mug, Alex did his best not to look at Tom’s heavy, tired face and rolled his shoulders and popped his back to brush it off. “Win some, lose some, no biggie right?” When his stretching stopped and he tried finding some sense of understanding on their faces, he found none. Tom still slouched in his chair and Patty looked utterly confused. 

He knew they just figured something was wrong, but that wasn’t the point. 

“This Ryu guy you mentioned . . .” Tom began slowly, doing his best to be practical and deductive at the same time, “what was he like?”

Patty didn’t break her eyes from Alex as she slowly stood to go put butter on toast and scramble some eggs.

Studying his hands and remembering some things he didn’t want to remember because it made his face feel hot, Alex couldn’t help but smile as he looked up, half genuine and half challenged. “I mean . . . he was good. Really good.” He spaced out, breathing a laugh along the tail end of the words as he recalled the trip. Tom’s eyes widened just a smidge in attention. “The best fighter I’ve ever met, it was unreal . . . and he treated me like a guest, made me food, and he even let me sleep there. Crazy, right?”

Suddenly a plate of eggs and toast was in front of him and Patty gave him another hug before she sat down.

Seeing Tom’s expression was still unamused, Alex shrugged it off. The eye contact they made was so heavy that it almost hurt. “I just had to come home. I’ve been gone too long anyway, and I missed you guys.”

Patty smiled wide before she started eating toast and talking about how good she was doing in school, and her monologuing lifted all the pressure off the dinner table. Tom noticed the relaxation and said nothing, going to read the morning paper while tuning into Patty’s grades and ate the bacon she made. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He tried doing his best after that--he really did. Crack of dawn: Gym, cars, the occasional wrestling gig on TV, repeat. Some days he managed to keep Ryu out of his thoughts better than others, nonetheless his face appeared in his mind at night where there were no distractions, and sleep was lost.

Somehow the thoughts made his gut ache with desire and guilt and regret, all at once. While he was training and tried to go back to the playful banter with Tom’s old friends, the enclosed space of AC and sweat made him nauseous, wishing for the crisp open air of the forest. The coffee every morning was starting to make him feel like shit. Sitting around his childhood home, he wondered what the street outside would look like 30,000 feet in the air while he went somewhere, anywhere, with the man he wanted right beside him.

Had Ryu left yet? Was he sleeping in the wilderness with no one? He had done it for years . . . why should Alex even worry about that? 

Alex felt a sense of consequence he’d never experienced, at the realization that even if he did go back, there might just be an empty house waiting for him. And what right did he have, anyway, to waltz back in?

Another Saturday night wrestling event rolled around, only for him to stare at a fallen opponent with his wrist held in the air and a belt in his hand without much effort at all. He got paid well for that one: There was money for Patty’s college fund, money for Tom’s physical therapist, and money for his own savings account. 

He was grateful for it. He really should have been if he was going to handle the weight of knowing what he really was. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I haven’t seen you this thoughtful in a long time.”

Tom’s words took a few seconds too long to get through Alex’s head. He was staring out of his fucking window again, lost in self-pity he couldn’t shake if he wanted to. 

“Yeah?” Alex groaned, hauling his head to look at Tom from where he sat on the couch. He huffed a pathetic attempt at a chuckle. “Thanks, Tom.”

Alex went back to staring at darkening glass as the sun set, while metal clanked right next to him on the coffee table when Tom sat down. Tom sighed from deep, deep down in his soul, and he knew he was in for something. 

“What happened Alex?” Tom asked matter-of-factly, the same way when Alex used to get bullied at school. “In Japan, I mean.”

Alex controlled the speed of how he turned his head again to look Tom in the face, and the speed at which he responded. “What do you mean? I’m fine.” Caught between a rock and a hard place, Alex knew the slant in Tom’s eyebrows meant he was in a kangaroo court. “Just tired. Jet lag, all that--”

“--it’s been over a week, and you’re a zombie,” Tom interrupted with an even plane of no-bullshit in his tone. “And I don’t want a zombie livin’ in my house, is what I’m tryin’ to get at here. What’s the matter?” 

Tom wouldn’t get mad or kick him out if he told him what happened; that wasn’t the kind of man he was. Nonetheless Alex wanted to shrink into himself, seeing the sand slide down the hourglass while Tom waited for an answer. As much as he wanted to say _something_ , his brain made him swallow the words, sounds and vowels lost in a dark pool of emotional constipation. 

“You know, I don’t think I ever told you this,” Tom said smoothly, albeit out of nowhere, once Alex dropped eye contact. He leaned on his knees to observe the carpet in thought. “After my wife passed and it was just me and Patty, I met this woman.” For probably the first time in Alex’s life, he saw Tom breathe anxiously, like a shiver was going up his spine. “She was wonderful, beautiful, and most important we just clicked. We were both on Cloud 9, but she moved away for her career.”

Perplexed but intrigued, Alex asked, “Were you mad?”

Tom shrugged, clearly remembering old baggage he no longer felt. “A little. People are people, though. She wanted me to come along but I had Patty, and she comes first.”

“Okay . . .” Alex said softly, trying to parse exactly why Tom was talking about an old flame to him. “I don’t . . .”

“I’m tellin’ you I didn’t have a choice back then.” Tom gripped Alex’s shoulder soft but firm. “I don’t regret not marryin’ that woman, because my daughter is my whole world and it was a long time ago, but I’m sayin’ _you_ have a choice. Nothin’s holding you back from him.”

Alex audibly gasped, almost jumping up from the couch. Tom held him strong though, his face loving and sympathetic and expressing a thousand words he wouldn’t say out loud to save them both the trouble. “I can tell you’re not happy here, Alex. It’s okay.” 

Something started to sting Alex’s eyes, a sting he hadn’t felt since his parents died. 

Some long, tormentous moments passed. There was the ticking of the clock, Alex trying to control his breathing and distant yells of people outside. 

“I’m scared, though,” Alex admitted shakily, shutting his eyes to avoid any tears escaping him. “I was scared and that’s why I ran back here, like a fuckin’ coward.”

He opened his eyes to see Tom grinning lopsidedly, a comforting aura in his dark eyes that made so much of Alex’s anxiety crumble. Cocking his head to the side just a smidge, he asked, “Alex, when have you ever been scared of anything?”

As Alex’s emotions started to settle down, Tom’s question replayed over and over in his mind. Slowly, he started smiling too, and it all came together. 

They shared one more look before Alex hugged Tom so hard, he was worried they might have another physical therapy bill on their hands if he didn’t stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was uh . . . finished today. Honestly the conversation between Alex and Tom was one of the things I was looking forward to writing the most when I got the full story laid out in my head. I really hope I got it to land. I was so damn worried about it that I mentally blocked myself from making anything at all; you know how it goes. 
> 
> It feels really good to post again though, so please tell me what you think! Thanks for reading <3


	8. Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is finally done! The himbo and the hobo can finally live together in peace!!  
> Thanks so much to everyone who read this story. I had so much fun writing it despite how long it took to complete (and by 'fun' I mean sit at my laptop for hours wondering why I can't come up with anything). Now that this is finished I can work on some other Street Fighter stuff that's been swimming around in my brain lately.  
> Hugs and kisses! <3

When Ryu was zipping up his duffel bag, he was brought back into the physical world when the small piece of metal caught on the fabric. His daydream of long blonde hair being pulled into a messy ponytail by long, veiny arms was torn from his retinas, and replaced by the reality of what he was trying to do that morning. 

Sighing loudly to himself, he fiddled with the zipper and got it closed to stand up and sling the dirty rag over his shoulder. His nose twitched a little at the stench of it; normally the smell didn’t bother him, but the bag had been in the closet for over a month. He’d have to get a new one soon. 

Staring around the empty home, he had the feeling of saying goodbye to something after many years of coming and going. Goodbye to Gouken, Ken, Sakura, Alex, and so many more that he could meditate on for a millenia. A metallic plate of noon sun spilled in from the front door, welcoming him to start once again on the thing he was best at: Walking and fighting people all by himself. 

Ryu blinked away the sting in his eyes, choosing to stare at the forest, past the trees and the streams and into the distant mountains where he grew many callouses from. The wind would chill him to his bones but he would swim in every waterfall he found. He would find the blank eyes of an owl with endless landscapes and knowledge in its vacant stare. 

Unwanted thoughts screamed louder than his logical expectations. He saw Alex bathing with him in the water, or spooning flush against him at night so the wind didn’t bite so harshly . . .

_No_ , he thought despite himself. It was always worth it to go alone, and time to him was a circle anyway. Ryu absorbed the feeling of old wood on his feet one last time knowing he would come back to where he started, like always. It only depended on him. Alex didn’t owe him the investment of something so far beyond the life he knew, let alone have a reason for it. He was home with the people who loved him most, and that was how it was supposed to be 

Once he stepped outside, he could tell by the heat alone the day would be unbearable. Nonetheless he gripped his duffel bag tighter and tried to let the natural world air out the fog in his brain. 

When he zoned out walking down the steps that he could traverse in his sleep, the resolve of not thinking about Alex was much, much harder. Just like earlier, the space right in front of him that demanded his attention was fazed by the image of Alex laughing at something Ryu said or wiping sweat from his brow or kneeling down beside the path asking what a certain plant was called. They weren’t hallucinations, but Ryu was still so irritated by the strength of his own imagination that he firmly grasped the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. He shook his head, because Alex’s face was only more detailed when he closed his eyes.

Eventually he decided to just deal with it, hoping in due time his fantasies would fade away like mist faded with the morning. 

For a long while he walked, trying to find solace in the isolation and the dusty sensation of the stone on his skin (something about its smoothness always calmed him). When he looked up from the ground he had reached a point in the trail where the steps jaggedly curved left, and the stretch beyond was obscured with brush and trees. To Ryu’s senses, however, he thought he picked up on movement that wasn’t an animal’s. He clicked his jaw, hoping for the first time in years that it wasn’t another disillusioned thug wanting a fight--his mind was simply not in the right spot for a fight at that moment. 

Tilting his head curiously, he saw he was right: A figure appeared slowly coming up to cross his path, but the person didn’t make him irritated or annoyed. He dropped his duffel bag in disbelief, the ocean of thoughts originally bloating his head gone so quickly that he nearly lost his footing and fell over. When his lips opened a hairs’ breadth, he found his mouth was completely dry and he couldn’t speak if he wanted to.

He and Alex made eye contact when the other man was still far down the path, but the twinkle of his blue eyes was strong enough underneath his red bandana that Ryu could see he was just as surprised. 

They were perfectly still, so still they could have stayed like that forever and just kept the fire of human longing alive. The distance between them burned hotter than the sun or the stone that hadn’t bothered Ryu since he was a small child.

He was almost scared what would happen if they got any closer. 

It took a moment for Ryu to realize his legs had become jelly with only the balance on his bones keeping him up. One tiny motion and he might fall over. 

Slowly, Alex started coming towards him, a concerned grin on his face that spread through Ryu’s system like a healing medicine. He started breathing again when they were just inches apart, not saying a word and just waiting for something to happen. The forest kept singing its own song but the two men were so lost in each other’s eyes that the rest of the world disappeared. 

Suddenly they were holding onto each other for dear life. Alex’s mouth found Ryu’s and the whole world fell into place more gracefully than he had ever achieved, after years of winning battle after battle. His fingers were full of the golden hair he’d daydreamed about since he and Alex first met and the real, physical sensation of it while the man was practically trying to eat him alive made Ryu draw in a sharp breath through his nose to keep himself stable. Strong hands caressed his neck and face, the taste of Alex’s mouth so delicious that Ryu bit down and liked the noise his lover made.

They pulled apart and stared at each other with no confusion or awkward silence, but with understanding. Still he was curious, so Ryu asked with soft words of content, “What was the reason you came back?”

The crook in Alex’s eyebrow said so much that Ryu chuckled at the expression. 

“Thought you might want some company,” Alex said, his deep voice mellow and confident as he pulled Ryu against his chest. “You know, if you’ll have me.”

Ryu pretended to look like he was thinking, tilting his head so that the corner of his mouth grazed Alex’s collarbone. “It would be a nice change of pace,” he hummed. A smile spread wide across his mouth. “It’ll be hard, though.”

“Oh, I know that,” Alex said. 

“We might run out of food--” Ryu started, looking up at the sky. 

“--won’t hear me complain,” Alex huffed.

“You’ll slim down--”

“--Eh, that’s fine. I can’t scratch my back like this anyway.”

“We’ll be all alone and might not see another person for days--”

“--Oh, even better!”

Ryu laughed from deep in his gut before hooking his arm around Alex’s neck to bring him down for another kiss. 

They held hands the rest of the way, talking about a million different things and catching up. Even when they were around people in town, Alex didn’t untangle his arm from around Ryu’s shoulders, unashamed despite some odd stares from strangers. Who cared about them anyway? 

By nightfall they had arrived on the outskirts of the city via bus, and after settling in the forest by the road, it wasn’t long before they were making the most of their alone time. 

The night air was cool against Ryu’s bare skin, feeling free and open as he took off Alex’s jacket to admire what was underneath. They kissed, manhandled and bit each other while undressing and soon they were rolling around on their combined sleeping mats. Ryu went on a tangent by sucking somewhere along Alex’s neck, which got the man to be a little more than excited.

“I’m sorry I left,” Alex whispered, the sound so close to Ryu’s ear that it boomed, “it was selfish of me.”

Ryu only made note he heard by running his fingertips along Alex’s spine. He got up onto his knees so that he was between Alex’s legs, eyes flicking between the little blue stones he adored so much and the hickey he just left behind. 

“You’re not selfish,” he stated bluntly, but with impulse as he breathed heavily through his words. With Alex looking up at him from the ground with some spots of moonlight accenting his body, Ryu felt a gripping in his chest that made him examine Alex’s legs and knees with his fingers. “I shouldn’t have let you go.”

A hand snaked into his own in the darkness. 

“You’ve got me now,” Alex soothed. 

They held eyes for a silent moment, before Ryu leaned in and held on like the Earth would stop spinning if he didn’t get Alex to scream his name so loud that it echoed off the mountains.


End file.
